DEKALB , Illinois -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Eric Mace says he thought he was giving his daughter good advice by asking her to sit up front in class .

Ryanne Mace was 19 when she was killed last year in a shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University .

`` I 'd like you to sit in the front row of every class that you 're in and constantly drag information out of these people , and if you do n't understand what they 're talking about , raise your hand and say , ' I do n't get it ' until you get it , '' Mace recalled telling her .

His daughter , 19-year-old Ryanne , took that advice . Now , he wishes she would have sat somewhere else .

Mace believes that Ryanne was probably one of the first to be killed in the Northern Illinois University shootings a year ago , because she was in the front row in the lecture at Cole Hall .

`` She was , from what I understand , in the front row of that room and was probably the first one that had shots fired at her after the gentleman that was on stage , '' Mace said .

`` It 's not an easy thing to carry , but I should n't have to carry it , either . ''

Ryanne was Eric and Mary Kay Mace 's only child . She was one of five NIU students killed on Valentine 's Day last year by Steven Kazmierczak , a former NIU student who was attending graduate school at the University of Illinois in Champaign .

`` It 's difficult . There 's always an ache , loneliness and a longing . We 're going to miss her every day for the rest of our lives , '' Mary Kay Mace said .

Her husband added , `` I go to bed thinking about her . I wake up in the morning thinking about her . Any time that I 've a free moment , it will pop up . ''

The Maces said they would like to know more about the police investigation into the shooting and Kazmierczak 's history of mental illness . Police records provided to CNN indicate that he had a long history of mental problems , including several suicide attempts .

The parents also are angry that he was able to buy guns .

Because Kazmierczak had not been in a mental facility for more than five years , he was legally able to purchase those weapons in Illinois -- and on the firearms application form Kazmierczak filled out , he stated that he had never been adjudicated `` mentally defective '' and had never been `` committed to a mental institution . '' See some of Kazmierczak 's mental health records ''

`` I do n't know if they do n't report it if he 's a juvenile with the mental illness on his record or what . But somewhere along the line , the pertinent information did n't get into the right database , and he could waltz out of a store with a legally purchased weapon , '' Mary Kay Mace said .

`` And I do n't get that . That is what makes me angry . ''

Now , the Maces have started a scholarship foundation for psychology majors in honor of their daughter . And they hope that what happened a year ago is never forgotten .

`` I do n't want them to forget a single detail about it , because the details are n't going to change just by forgetting about them , '' Eric Mace said .

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Steven Kazmierczak carried out shooting spree at Northern Illinois February 14 , 2008

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Father of Ryanne Mace told his daughter to always sit on the front row of class

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`` There 's always an ache , loneliness and a longing , '' says Ryanne Mace 's mother

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Parents want to know more details about the shooting and the killer